Clarence Gordon Robertson (9 April 1902 – 31 October 1974) was an Australian politician and a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

between 1942 and 1950 and again between 1953 and 1959. He was a member of the Labor Party.

Early life

Robertson was born at

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and G ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and was the son of a butcher. He was educated to elementary level in Dubbo and, from the age of 14, worked as a rural labourer. He was employed by the

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of diffe ...

in the mid-west of New south Wales between 1924 and 1942.

State Parliament

Robertson was the endorsed Labor candidate for the seat of

at the 1941 election. Despite a resurgence in rural support for Labor at the election, Robertson was defeated by the incumbent Country Party member

George Wilson George Wilson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Balch Wilson (born 1927), American composer, professor emeritus at the University of Michigan * George Washington Wilson (1823–1893), Scottish photographer * George Christopher (actor) ...

by 159 votes. Wilson died 11 months after the election and Robertson won the resultant

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

. He retained the seat for Labor for 8 years but was defeated, during a general swing against Labor, at the 1950 election by Robert Medcalf the incumbent Country Party member for Lachlan. Medcalf's seat had been abolished by a redistribution. Robertson regained the seat in 1953 and retained it until he was defeated at the 1959 election by the Liberal Party's,

Les Ford Leslie Hunter Ford (19 January 1917 – 17 December 1964) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1959 to 1964, representing the electorate of Dubbo. Ford was born in Molong ...

. Robertson joined the Country Party in 1961 in the expectation that he would be the party's candidate at the election held in March

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wo ...

. However, the party did not endorse a candidate and Robertson styled himself as the "Independent Country" nominee. He received 5% of the vote and retired from public life. He did not hold party, parliamentary of ministerial office. After leaving parliament he owned and managed a farm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Clarrie 1902 births 1974 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians